It’s been a little over 2 years since Abbreviated was founded and while the business is still quite small in the grand scheme of things, the business is profitable and growing - the plane is off the ground so to speak. I’ve had a few people ask for advice lately so I thought I’d put the most important lessons I’ve learned about starting and running a clothing brand all down in one place. 

First, a Few Harsh Truths:

• It’s going to be hard and you need to fully embrace that. Starting a business is a constant series of problem solving. That’s what you’re signing up for. Your ability to solve problems will be what determines whether you make it or not. If you don’t love the challenge, love the problem solving, and love the process of building something it’s going to be tough to have the motivation to see it through. It takes vision, determination to the point of bullheadedness, decisiveness in uncertainty, but also humility, flexibility, and a willingness to look like a fool. It will be incredibly stressful, but it’s incredibly rewarding if you’re able to succeed.

• Your idea isn’t worth a thing. Your ability to execute is what matters. You need to be able to figure things out for yourself. You will not be able to outsource all the work to people you find on Fiverr. If it were that easy those people would be running businesses and not working on Fiverr. Dropshipping is not a viable business strategy anymore, and success will not happen overnight, much less in the short term.

• Be brutally realistic with yourself about the finances. If the goal is for this to be your full time thing, you either need investors, or enough savings/alternate sources of income to last at least 2 years. The longer you can continue to put profits back into the business, the better. Less than 10% of shopify businesses hit $500k a year in sales. If you’re selling physical goods and doing $500k in sales, you’ll be doing exceptionally well if you can afford to pay yourself 10% of that while still investing back into the business. That means you need to be doing over $40k a month in sales to be taking home $50k/year before taxes. That’s your absolute best case medium-term scenario. Be realistic about that.

• Success of an ecommerce brand really comes down to two things: making a quality product that people want, and getting customers to your site and converting. You still have to be able to do the rest (file taxes, build a website, handle customer service, ship inventory, etc.) but those are table-stakes - not doing them can make your business fail, but doing them well won’t make your business succeed. An exceptionally great product and/or being exceptionally great at acquiring customers can cover up a lot of other weaknesses. Once the structure of the business is built, the vast majority of your mental energy should be put into these two areas.

• You can and should learn the digital ads platforms yourself - If you're trying to sell direct-to-consumer, these will be pivotal in your success. Agencies are expensive and you don’t need them off the bat. Learn meta ads, google ads, tiktok ads yourself. You can get surprisingly far on your own.

• Hire slow, fire fast - This is a known saying when it comes to the management of employees but you should keep it in mind for any cost you’re adding to your business. Agencies, 3PL’s, Shopify apps, etc. Explore the options and go overboard on your research, especially if it’s something that’s going to be a pain to switch once you’ve onboarded one platform or service. I interviewed more than 20 warehouses to find one I liked and that was time incredibly well-spent as my 3PL has been a difference maker in the operational efficiency of the business.

• Learn to say “no” - From day 1 you will be inundated with messages and emails from people whose business is getting money from your business. Upwards of 99.9% of these are a total waste of your time and money. Once you get off the ground, these will only increase. Most businesses die of indigestion, not starvation. Put on the metaphorical horse blinders and stay maniacally focused on the fundamentals of your own business.

Some things you need before you start:

• An ability to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. A business doesn’t exist because it’s a “cool idea” or something you’ve always wanted to do. A business will exist if it provides something other people want, when they want it, where they want it, at a price they believe is fair. And it needs to do all of that better than the competition. It is not about you.

• A realistic unit profitability model - What are your COGS, CAC, overhead,  and fulfillment in both absolute terms and as percentages of sales? How does your go-to-market strategy work within that equation? Are you able to be unit-profitable from day 1? If not, what has to happen for you to make it to unit-profitability? Do you have a plan to make it to that point?

• A differentiated product - How is what you’re selling actually different from what’s already out there? Why should I buy from you instead of a brand that already exists and that I already trust? Have you looked on Amazon to see if it already exists? It’s not impossible to make it in a crowded market, but it’s more expensive and more challenging than having a differentiated product offering.

• A go-to-market strategy - How are you getting your product in front of customers? Are you selling direct? On amazon? Via wholesale? Research what the margin structures look like for each of these. If you’re going the wholesale or amazon route, are you ready for them to take that big of a cut? If you’re going the direct route, how are you going to acquire customers?

• A marketing funnel - Lots of info on YouTube and in podcasts about what this is and how to set one up. Need to have a mental model of how this is going to work for you, and then get it set up.

Other Resources that have been Helpful for me

Websites

• ChatGPT - I use this non-stop for just about everything. Sounding board, strategic advice, copy writing, how-to advice, design help. The only limit is your prompting ability and your creativity.

• DIIB - free SEO tracking service I use - no idea if this is the best or not but it’s something I found early and it’s been helpful for me.

• Snappr - freelance photography hiring

• Backstage - hire models/creative talent

• Peerspace - rent studio space by the hour

• Youtube - best place to learn how to do just about anything. 

• ImportYeti - find the suppliers of major brands based on their import records

• Pietra - help with product development and sourcing for ecommerce startups. I haven’t used it so I can’t personally vouch, but this is the kind of place I’d start if I were looking to start from scratch

• Stateless - more of a full-service production service, but much more expensive because they’re doing the work for you

• Reddit - good communities for shopify, ecommerce, entrepreneurship, etc., especially if you have specific questions or would like perspective from people in a similar boat.

Social Media/Newsletters

• @mikemonnette - this is my personal profile on tiktok and instagram - I share what it’s like to run a clothing brand and I make organic content which doubles as top-of-funnel exposure.

• @personalbrandlaunch on instagram - breaks down the fundamentals of making viral videos and growing a page organically

• Go-to-millions - a free email newsletter written by the chief growth officer of ecommerce brands. Practical advice for ecomm marketing. Quick, to the point, a few times a week - I usually skim through these and have picked up some valuable stuff.

Podcasts

• How I Built This - great stories about entrepreneurs and their business journeys. You can learn a lot listening to these.

• Operators Podcast - unfiltered conversations between several very successful ecommerce CEO’s - I’ve listened to nearly every episode. Valuable advice in big picture thinking.

• E-commerce Fuel Podcast - advice on the specific tactics involved in starting and running an ecommerce business

• The Knowledge Project - covers a wide range of topics including non-business, but a great podcast for executive and entrepreneur stories and interviews as well as high-level thinking about business and strategy.

Software

• Shopify & Quickbooks (of course)

• Canva - I have yet to hire a graphic designer to do anything, canva is very easy to use for beginners.

• Shipstation - shipped everything from my apartment for the first year in business with Shipstation and a cheap label printer, and I keep the subscription now for the deals it offers on shipping samples to and from vendors

If you've found yourself thinking, "how do I start a clothing brand?", "how to start a clothing brand?", or "I think I could start a clothing brand but I don't know where to start", this article was for you, so I hope you found it helpful!